CFP: On the Outlook: Figures of the Messianic (Netherland) (2/20/06; 6/10/06-6/11/06)

Junior Researcher Symposium "On the Outlook: Figures of the Messianic"

Call For Papers

In conjunction with the international conference "Messianism and theLaw" which will take place on 11 and 12 May 2006, the Institute ofJewish Studies at the University of Antwerp is also planning a JuniorResearcher Symposium "On the Outlook: Figures of the Messianic" whichwill be conducted on 10 and 11 May 2006.

Contributions for this Junior Researcher Symposium, which is expectedto focus on the modes and functions of Messianic thinking intwentieth-century philosophy, may be submitted to the organizers aslisted below.

Papers should not exceed 30 minutes and possibly but not exclusivelyaddress:- Figures of the Messianic in the work of W. Benjamin, G. Scholem, J.Taubes, E. Lévinas, Th. Adorno, Fr. Rosenzweig, J. Derrida, A.Badiou, J.-L. Nancy, G. Agamben- Messianism and poststructuralism (e.g. similarities between theparadoxes of Messianism and the deconstruction of binary thinking)- Writing and Messianism (e.g. difference and the deferral ofpresence in Messianic time)- Discontinuous temporality (how is Messianism related tophilosophical concepts such as promise, infancy, and potentiality?)- Messianism, secularization and religion (do we observe asecularization of Messianic thinking? or an introduction of politicaltheology into philosophy?)- What is the relationship between Jewish and Christian figurationsof Messianism?- Messianism and political activism- Messianism and hope (e.g. in Ernst Bloch's 'Das Prinzip Hoffnung'?)- Collectivity and individuality (is messianic redemption alwaysconcerned with the redemption of a collective body (mankind, aspecific people), and not with individual salvation? How does thepopularity of messianic figurations relate to a renewed philosophicalinterest in 'we', instead of 'I'?)

Organizers:Drs. Thomas CrombezDr. Katrien Vloeberghs

Please submit abstracts (500 words) to thomas.crombez_at_ua.ac.be before20 February 2006.Speakers will be notified of acceptance by 10 March 2006.